chapotraphouse

There are some good lessons here in how not to respond to accusations:

The Current Affairs matter is not simply a fight among friends that spilled out: left institutions got involved without getting multiple sides of the story. The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) branch in New Orleans ejected Robinson as a member with a statement that erroneously copied the charge of “union busting.” This was in violation of DSA procedure, because there was no hearing or opportunity to rebut the charges, only a public notification that Robinson was out. The International Workers of the World Freelance Journalist Union issued a solidarity letter condemning Robinson’s “authoritarian act” of “retaliatory firings.”

No investigation, no right to speak, and certainly no right for an organization to take action against a member.

Edit: Forgot the wildest part of that anecdote

Robinson filed an appeal, pointing out that he had not been granted due process. In a bizarre twist of events, the DSA’s National Harassment Grievance Officer [corrected to reflect proper title], Paula Brantner, wrote to him in March 2023 that not only was his expulsion to continue but that he was now accused–and found guilty of–“charges of harrassment, threats, and attacks on another member’s character.” Robinson pointed out that these charges, of which he has been found guilty, were unknown to him and that he had been given no chance to dispute them. In response, Brantner wrote, “The DSA grievance process is not a legal process, and so the same ‘due process’ guarantees” …are not part of this process” (she is paid a controversial salary of of $360,000, as a part-time consultant, to engage in such fulsome communications).

$360K to not even do basic stuff like "hey maybe we should hear from this guy like our procedures mandate," and not even do it full time.